Wearable absorbent articles (e.g., taped diapers, pull-on diapers, training pants, sanitary napkins, panty liners, incontinence briefs, and bandages) typically offer the benefit of receiving and containing the bodily exudates of a wearer. Disposable varieties of such absorbent articles are commonly known, and are typically mass produced on a high speed production line. Some disposable absorbent articles include a mechanical fastening system (e.g., hook/loop or tab/slot) for maintaining the article in a desired position or configuration prior to, during, and/or after use of the article. Such fastening systems may include one or more elements that extend laterally outwardly beyond the side edges of the article, such as commonly known fastening tabs. These laterally outwardly extending portions of the fastening system may increase the risk of contamination or damage to the article, an article element, and/or the manufacturing equipment during a high speed manufacturing process. Repositioning the outwardly extending portions of the fastening system (e.g., by folding the portion laterally inward) may reduce the likelihood of damage or contamination, but the folded fastening system element may not remain suitably folded for a desired amount of time (e.g., the duration of the manufacturing process) due to the high speed nature of the manufacturing process. For example, relatively high velocities on the manufacturing line can lead to fasteners unfolding due to centrifugal forces and bending stresses as the fasteners travel around rollers. In addition, the fasteners may collide with stationary parts of the machine at high speeds, causing the fastening tabs to open and leaving them vulnerable to being crushed or damaged by other rotating or stationary equipment.
A fastening system that includes a mechanical fastener having commonly known hooks or other similar features may be maintained in a folded configuration by engaging the mechanical fastener with a complementary element of the fastening system, such as loops or a nonwoven portion. Such mechanical fastening systems are generally engaged by entangling the hooks or other similar feature with the complementary element. However, an engaged mechanical fastener still may not provide sufficient bonding strength to maintain the fastener in the desired folded configuration during a high speed manufacturing process. Therefore, in order to increase the bond strength of the mechanical fastener, a bonding agent such as an adhesive may be applied to one or more portions of the mechanical fastener prior to folding and/or engaging the fastening system. Conventional adhesives such as commonly known hot-melt adhesives generally form permanent bonds. The bond strength provided by such permanent bonding agents is relatively high, and may even increase from the time the absorbent article is made and the time it is purchased and/or used by a consumer due to the effects of high temperatures associated with shipping and/or storage of the article. While permanent bonding agents may provide the desired bond strength during a high speed manufacturing process, the increased bond strength and/or infrangibility of the adhesive bond may be undesirable at other times such as when a consumer attempts to use the article or fastening system and it becomes necessary to break the bond. In order for a disposable absorbent article to be used as intended by a consumer, it may be necessary or desirable to unfold or reposition the fastening system or other portion of the article. Thus, the use of a permanent bonding agent may undesirably increase the difficulty associated with unfolding or repositioning the fastener or other article portion. In addition, mechanical fastening systems are typically configured to be refastenable (i.e., the fastener can be fastened and unfastened more than once without substantial loss of fastening capability). Applying a permanent bonding agent to the mechanical fastener may undesirably reduce the refastenability of the mechanical fastener, for example, by covering up the engageable portions of the mechanical fastener with fibers or other material or even melting the engaging elements.
One way to address the high bond strength problems described above may be to use a temporary bonding agent such as a temporary strength adhesive to maintain the fastening system in a folded configuration. Temporary strength adhesives, sometimes referred to as “fugitive” adhesives, are known (see, e.g., U.S. Publication No. 2006/0027320, filed by Kueppers, et al., on Jun. 20, 2005). However, fugitive adhesives are typically used to create temporary, frangible paper-to-paper bonds, for example, for joining cardboard containers and/or portions thereof to one another, or for use with envelopes, labels, and the like. Typically, when the bond provided by a fugitive adhesive is broken, the adhesive is no longer tacky and does not readily adhere to anything. Fugitive adhesives are not known in the art for use in the fastening system of an absorbent article such as a disposable diaper. One reason for this may be the difference in materials used in absorbent articles (which typically include at least some polymeric materials as opposed to only paper). Another reason may be that the fastening system for an absorbent article is generally intended to provide a permanent bond or, in the case of a refastenable fastening system, a quasi-permanent bond to maintain the article in the desired position and/or configuration on a wearer. In other words, one goal of the fastening system is to provide sufficient bond strength to prevent the article from undesirably coming unfastened during the intended use of the article, and a temporary bonding agent will typically not help achieve this goal.
In addition, known fugitive adhesives may not form a strong enough initial bond to make them capable of holding folded portions of absorbent articles in place during a high speed manufacturing process, during which time the folded portions of the absorbent articles could come in to contact with other objects in the manufacturing process. For example, water-based fugitive adhesives, which are typically used in labeling and envelope applications, have relatively low bond strengths when wet (i.e., when applied), and while this may be sufficient for use in bonding paper to paper, it is generally not sufficient for the absorbent article applications described herein. Further, in order for conventional fugitive adhesives to lose strength, some fugitive adhesives may require active heating, radiation, or the like to reduce their strength, all of which are impractical for use with absorbent articles. Other known fugitive adhesives are solvent cross-linked materials, which may not be suitable for use in an article that contacts the skin of a user.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a method for folding a fastener and maintaining the fastener in a folded configuration during a high speed manufacturing process. It would also be desirable to provide an article comprising a folded fastening system that is relatively easy to unfold by a consumer. It would further be desirable to provide a folded fastening system which does not exhibit impaired fastenability or refastenability after the fastener is unfolded.